Best Practices from SAP Managed Service

There is an article by Gary Fromer, SVP, SAP Managed Services, SAP Americas.Below are some excerpts from the same:
The SAP Managed Services organization delivers application outsourcing services to over 400 SAP customers worldwide. We've learned many lessons from our experiences with these customers; I would like to share that experience through a handful of outsourcing dos and don'ts. These guidelines apply to customers who are embarking on new outsourcing projects, as well as those already executing an outsourcing plan.
The Do's:
1. Clearly define your IT and business objectives before you begin
2. Maintain control of your SAP systems, including strategic decision making and a key user network
3. Take advantage of an integrated offsite and offshore strategy, as well as the economic and delivery efficiencies such a strategy can provide
4. Realize the benefits of shared resources
The Donts:
1. Don't operate and support your SAP system alone if you don't have the in-house resources and expertise to do so
2. Don't let your SAP operations and support depend on only a few individuals
3. Don't expect to outsource your responsibilities
4. Don't strand yourself without top-level SAP expertise when tackling top-level issues
Source: 1
Tags: managed+service – sap – outsource
Few good pointers – thanks for that.
There is also some good high level info on managed services on
http://www.parcusgroup.com/bustec/bustec.html
Good one